tips

November 3, 2013

You're reading this post, so I will assume that you know what it feels like to be depressed. You don't need me to tell you what depression is about, -- you've struggled with it, perhaps even your entire life. What I will tell you is something entirely different from what you might have heard until now.

I will tell you that you are a very lucky person because of your depression... and I will prove my point to you.

No, I will not throw at you a list of things that you should be grateful for. I won't even tell you to focus on the positive things in your life. As a matter of fact, I will tell you the opposite. I will tell you that, for a while, you should direct your attention towards the negative indeed -- towards your depression, -- and I will tell you why.

Fact: what we see -- disappears (ceases to exist).

Nowadays, we understand better how the Universe works. As a result, more and more people create their lives in a conscious way, because of that knowledge. The same principles, used for such conscious creation can be applied when it comes to treating depression. First we must understand that; we, ourselves, have created it. Of course such acknowledgment has nothing to do with the erroneous thinking that depression is only in the mind of the beholder. Once created, even if it originated with the mind, the depression takes different forms on different levels, including physical, and it hurts. The symptoms of depression are real and not imagined. The experience of being depressed is also real. In this aspect, being responsible for creating depression is not any different from being responsible for creating any other illness that's out there, such as diabetes, cancer, etc.

The point here is that we take control of our own power by rejecting having to live in the denial of being the Creators.

Once we establish that, we now have an option to consciously un-create what we have created, even if we have created it without being aware of it.

How do we un-create depression? First, we have to acknowledge it. We must admit that it exists, and we must be OK with that. Any attempt of trying to resist such reality will not bring beneficial results. Our resistance to it will only help to create more of which we resist, and thus depression will continue to persist.

Resistance often results in us trying to do everything that we can think of, that will help us get distracted from the issue and from the pain. And so we continue to take drugs, watch TV excessively, overindulge in eating, overworking, obsess with relationships, you name it... We don't care about the price we often pay for such practices. We just want to get rid of the pain, instantly. We're not concerned about more pain coming our way due to the choices we make in the process of trying to get rid of it. Who wants to feel the pain, the sharpness of it, without numbing it? Nobody. Our entire society is built on the belief that we must do everything we can to get rid of it. We put harmful pain-killers in our bodies, while completely disregarding the warning labels, to get relief, even if just temporary.

But it's like the Buddha said: "Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional."

There is no question about it; -- not just the physical, but especially the emotional pain that comes with depression, -- is something that no one wishes to experience. And yet, in our lives, (some of us more, some less) we experience it anyway. The thing is, we don't have to continue to. That's the good news. The bad news is; we must go through that same pain once again, while un-creating it.

The law of the Universe says that what we see, what we look at, -- disappears, ceases to exist. It's hard for us to understand it, because there seem to be plenty of elements that continue to exist, even though we keep looking at it. We might look at ourselves, the trees, the sky, and there still there. While the process of creation of the physical world, in many ways still remains mysterious to us, we're starting to grasp of the fact that such physical matter continues to exist because it's being re-created by us every moment.

We've all experienced such phenomena in our lives. We've all had a problem, or two, with which we struggled for some time. Then, out of desperation, and exhaustion, we decided to give up the search for a solution. In such state of surrendering, we've accepted the problem for what it was. We finally then, looked at it closely for what it was, without trying to change it, without trying to manipulate it in any way. We made peace with the fact that we didn't have what it took to change it. Then, what if felt like "out of the sudden", "out of the blue" -- the solution arrived on its own!

What happened there was that we looked at ourselves as powerless, unable to get what we wanted. We watched ourselves being so. As we saw, what we saw, it ceased to exist!

The same thing can be done with depression. I know for a fact, because I did it, when nothing else worked.

We can un-create our depression, and we can continue to re-create exactly what it is that we desire for it to be. That is why, in the earlier part I wrote, that focusing on the negative (depression being the negative here) is what sometimes might be needed. We must see the depression for what it is first. We must experience its effects without trying to numb it and get rid of it. We must observe it without judging it, and without questioning its existence.

Once you take that first step, things won't necessarily get easier, at least not right away. In fact, at first, they'll might seem to get even worst, but at the same time you'll find a strange sense of relief. Next thing you know, you start going deeper within your own self for the answers... and you find them there. You start asking yourself different kind of questions. Instead of banging your head against the wall while trying to figure out how to get rid of your depression, you now begin to understand why its there in the first place. While feeling almost at peace with your condition now, you begin to understand that it has its purpose. You start seeing the roots of it. Those roots might take you all the way to your past, which might need to be re-visited. When you do, don't run away from it, don't try to shut it down. Embrace it, with as much grace as you can. Allow yourself to feel the pain while you're watching your past in your mind. Feel the intensity of it. In your mind, re-visit the people that have wronged you. Perhaps you have some forgiving to do.In my other post, I write about how forgiveness and the daily practice of it, was absolutely essential in resolving my depression.Do not get discouraged by how difficult following this approach can be. Do not give up, the beginning is always the hardest. You are embarking on a new journey in which you learn to consciously create yourself and your life, and depression happened to be there to assist you with it.Depression could be there to awaken you, just like it was for me, and that is what I meant when I wrote; you are a lucky person because of your depression... Without it you might have not been as determined as you are to embrace the change. Without it, you would not even try to look for a transformation. You could find yourself being merely content with yourself and your life, the way many people are. You could continue to just exist without ever knowing the pure joy brought by the existence! For people who are simply content with their lives, who are comfortable with the things the way they are, it's very hard, if not impossible, to change anything. They're too afraid of losing what they've got, especially when it comes to their mental formations, their beliefs. They're too attached to it. You, on the other hand, don't have that problem. That is why you are so lucky -- you've got nothing to lose. You've got nothing that will hold you back from reaching for what your Soul desires, which is remembering and experiencing who you really are.Perhaps this is what, whoever wrote that in the Bible, meant; "It is much easier for an elephant to go through the eye of the needle than for a rich person to go to Heaven."Should you choose so, your depression could be the end of the old you, and of your old struggle. The beginnings are often hard, but just like in the good movies, often the endings can get even tougher. So while you're climbing that mountain of depression, barely hanging for life from the cliff called your life, remember that you're almost there. You're almost home. This is the toughest part and it might feel the scariest. But just like you love watching heroes in the movies overcoming their last, life-threatening obstacle, (which always seems to be hardest yet) you can now be your own hero. You can now overcome your depression by going through the darkness of it, instead of avoiding it. You can save yourself by crossing straight through the burning fire of your unpleasant emotions. You can befriend your enemy.And when you finally succeed at it, you can help others to do the same.

Before I met my husband, I found myself living with a guy who was abusive towards me. I was in my early thirties th...

I am not a physician, nor do I have a degree in psychology. The advice I give should not be viewed as a form of psycho-therapy. The advice I give is based on my own personal experience with depression, and my recovery from it.

REPUBLISHING:

Please feel free to share my articles in your blog, website, newsletter or magazine. All I ask is that you credit/link back to me. :)